


Cat-tastrophe

by CatLady86



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bad Puns, Cats, Gen, Humor, Mild Language, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 09:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18847915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatLady86/pseuds/CatLady86
Summary: After facing off against their latest mark, the four friends find themselves in a very odd and dangerous predicament, and now must find safety until the malady wears off.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt I did a while back, another cat-related thing, cause it's me. XD https://ffxv-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/5690.html?thread=11354170#cmt11354170

The large glowing billow of smog left in the wake of their dead mark begins to dissipate, the four of them having a coughing fit after inhaling the thick cloud. Or at least that’s what Noctis thought as it began sounding akin to a chorus of cats upchucking hairballs; volunteering at a shelter made him very aware of that noise and to hide his shoes. Something was off, greatly off, but Noctis couldn’t quite put his finger on it since the surroundings were still hazy. Or paw as he glances down and sees a black fuzzy foot. 

“What the hell!?” he shrieks as he scoots back in a panic while staring at the tiny feet under him until he connects with something large. Noctis whips his head towards the source and finds a mass of brown fluff, sort of like Gladio’s hair, yet it wasn’t hair. “Holy shit! You are- I am- We’re-”

“We’re cats, apparently. Must have been a side effect of the monster’s toxins.” the voice of Ignis says from off to the side, him sounding oddly nonchalant about it. 

“Why the hell are you so calm!?” Noctis snaps and hackles up when the brown mass suddenly shifts, coming face to face with a very fluffy and grumpy looking cat. 

“Well,” Ignis begins, stepping into view. “at least we’re not toads.”

“True, but this is still highly dangerous.” Gladio pipes in and leans back on his hind legs, trying to get a better look of his surroundings and exposing his fluffy underbelly, giving Noct the sudden urge to topple him over.

“Very much so.” Ignis says as he licks his paw and wipes his folded ear, then stops and glances about after realizing something has been forgotten. “Where is Prompto?”

The other two look about in a panic, not seeing the blonde or anything that would resemble him.

“Prompto!?” Noctis calls out, feeling a great worry for his friend.

“HEY GUYS!? LOOK!” a shout from overhead calls, the three turning to the large rock next to them. Prompto stands atop the boulder, or what was once just a normal rock to their human forms, with his chest puffed up and cream colored fur shining in the setting sun. “I’m king of the mountain and all the land before it!”

“The hell you are!” Noctis grumps and bounds over to the rock, attempting to scale the rock face and failing before Gladio grabs him up by his scruff. “Hey, eww, put me down.”

Gladio dumps the smaller cat down by Ignis and turns towards Prompto. “Get your ass down from there, a predator might see you.” 

“All right, all right. I’m coming.” Prompto chuckles and leaps down, bonding over and immediately getting pounced by Noctis.

Gladio rolls his eyes at the two play fighting and uses his much larger body to sit on them, making the two hiss and yowl as they struggle to free themselves. 

“We don’t have much time till the sun goes down, it’d be a death sentence for us if a daemon came at us in this state.”

“Agreed.” Ignis says and looks at the two struggling cats under Gladio. “No games, we need to make it back to the rest station for safety until this malady wears off.”

“Fine.” the two say in unison but as soon as Gladio lets them up they begin to tussle about again.

Gladio and Ignis both huff and grab up a smaller cat, Gladio with the fidgeting Noctis and Ignis with the mortified Prompto, carrying them along. It seems like forever before the view of the rest stop comes up yet they find safety is still a ways away as the sound of a howl echoes.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit! Voretooth.” Prompto panics and dives under Gladio’s belly, his back end and stubby tail exposed. 

“What should we do, make a run for it towards the rest stop or hide until it passes?” Noctis asks Ignis.

The fawn colored cat goes to respond but is cut off by a close growl that sends the fur on his back to stand at attention. “Hide, now!” 

The four dashes off with Ignis in front leading them towards a large spiny bush, when all of a sudden Gladio stops and turns with a menacing yowl. The other three skid to a stop and watch as the larger cat arches himself and stands sideways as a Voretooth lumbers closer.

“Keep going!” Gladio demands and stands his ground. 

Noctis freezes and contemplates going to help or flee as instructed but the choice is made for him when Ignis clamps on his scruff and drags him to safety. The sounds of blood-curdling shrieking and hollers echo through the air, it getting so bad Prompto and Noctis cower their heads under Ignis, the cat too looking greatly unnerved. Then in a blur of dark matted fur, Gladio dives into the shrubbery as a bloodied Voretooth snaps away at him, thankfully unable to fit its way in. Ignis hisses and strikes multiple times at the creature’s snot until it gives up with a cry and backs off, choosing to now circle the bush. 

“Gladio?” Noctis asks as he cautiously crawls to the larger cat who has bawled himself up tightly, amber eyes blown out wide and him panting quickly. His fur was matted in blood. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” he finally responds and lays down. “It’s the beast's blood, just a bit winded is all.” 

Ignis scoots over and surveys his friend, knowing all too well the man likes to hide injuries. He sighs deeply and flicks his tail in annoyance. 

“You’ve could have been killed easily Gladio.”

“But I wasn’t and it bought you all time.” he says and slips onto his side to begin grooming himself inadvertently. “Guess we’ll just have to hunker here until it leaves or this wears off.” 

“Not looking forward to being under this bush if it does.” Prompto says as he glances up at the prickers. 

“Don’t have much of a choice.” Ignis says and starts licking the top of Gladio’s head. 

Noct and Prompto watch the two blankly, them stopping and scowling at the youngers.

“What?” Gladio snaps.

“Dude, get a room you two.” Noctis teases and hunkers down, folding his paws up under himself and feeling a tiredness come over him. 

The group sits in silence before the smallest of the three lets out a whine as the Voretooth still paces around them.

“I’m hungry.”

This, was going to be a rough night.


	2. Chapter 2

After what seemed like hours the Voretooth finally left the foursome alone, but that was mostly because dusk had set in and new threats abounded. Yet it was decided they would make a mad dash towards the safety of the town and while they do, the three smaller cats revel in a funny little problem that befell the largest and fluffiest. 

“You’re being quite _prickly_ today.” Noctis snorts and dodges a swipe.

“How about you all quit laughing and help me?” Gladio snaps and resumes biting at the thorny branches and leaves tangled in his fur before stopping to run again. 

“What’s wrong Gladio, no fun being _bushy_?” Prompto titters and quickly scampers up to be aside of a snickering Ignis and away from Gladio’s claws. 

“I swear to the gods if you all don’t stop I’m gonna piss in your day bags when we get back.” 

“All right you two, that’s enough. _Leaf_ poor Gladio alone.” Ignis titters.

“I’m going to shit in yours.”

Ignis skids to a stop and scowls at the large cat. “You will rue the day if you dare try.”

The sound of a loud groan snaps them to attention and they pick up even more speed as they hurtle towards the lights of the rest station, narrowly avoiding being caught in the path of a lumbering Iron Giant. 

“We made it.” Noctis sighs out and slumps down tiredly. “Let’s go get something to eat and then go to sleep, hopefully, this wears off then.”

“Yeah, I’m starving.” Prompto says and fidgets around excitedly before remembering something. “Uh wait, how are we going to eat again? We’re cats, it’s not like we can go into the diner and order food.” 

The two youngest turn to Ignis, waiting for him to formulate a plan as Gladio carefully lays down and proceeds to groom himself. 

“I am unsure actually.” Ignis admits and rolls his eyes at the taken aback looks the younger two give him. 

“We could hit up the dumpster behind Takka’s.” Gladio adds in and resumes cleaning himself.

“Eww.” Noct and Prompto whine in unison. 

Even Ignis makes a grossed out face at the prospect, then he perks up when he spots someone familiar. “I have an idea.” 

Ignis scuttles over to the person and begins sharking their legs, meowing pitifully and softly pawing them for attention.

“Aww, hello there, what’s a sweet thing like yourself doing out here? Don’t see many stray cats out this way.” Cindy says and leans down to stroke the cat’s fur only for Ignis to dart away and look back at her, then to the other three cats. “Oh, you got friends too?”

Prompto beelines over to the mechanic in a hot second and begins nuzzling her legs while chattering loudly. Noctis quickly joins in and the two dart around her feet meowing loudly. 

“Ya’ll must be hungry, poor babies. Just you wait, I’ll go get ya somethin’.” she says and heads towards the diner.

“Aw sweet! Cindy to the rescue!” Prompto cheers and leaps about with excitement. 

“I know, hope it’s something good, like chicken.” Noct says and fidgets about. 

“Probably be canned cat food.” Gladio tells them.

“Dude, go back to licking your balls and stop being a downer.” Noctis snaps at him. 

“Here we are.” Cindy says as she returns with a large serving plate. “Eat up.”

The plate is set down and the three cats scrutinize it, unsure of what exactly it was on the plate. But hunger gets the better of Prompto and he takes a bite, becoming greatly happy after realizing what it was. 

“It’s tunafish.” he says and begins gobbling the food down. 

“Hey! Don’t hog it all!” Noctis snaps and budges Prompto out of the way so he can feast too. 

Ignis sighs and turns to look at Gladio, the large cat still grooming himself and not paying the food any mind, and goes to join the smaller cats in eating. The three gorge themselves on the canned fish, licking the plate clean and settling down to groom themselves once their bellies are full. Gladio finally removes all the foliage from his fur and slowly limps over to join his companions only to stop and scowl at the empty plate beside them. 

“You could have left some you jerks.”

“You snooze you lose, big guy.” Prompto tells him as he stretches out on his side.

“I had to get that shit out of my fur, it was starting to get tangled and hurt. But of course, you all had to just be assholes and laugh at me, now you ate all the food.” Gladio says, tone growing angry and frustrated as he shifts about on his legs. 

He begins to storm off only to get pounced by Noctis who tries to be playful.

“Come on Gladio, don’t be so grumpy. Just go beg to Cindy, I’m sure she’ll give you some food too.” he says and rolls Gladio over, getting a sharp hiss from the large cat and multiple swats to the face. “Ow, ow the hell man!?”

“Gladio!” Ignis yowls and hisses at the large cat, the two having a slight standoff with their backs arched. “That was uncalled for!”

“Well you’re all being assholes so I’ll be one right back!”

The two hiss threateningly at each other and prepare to throw down until Gladio begins to wobble. He flops down with a pitiful mewl, sending the other three into a panic. 

“Gladio what’s wrong!?” Noctis asks and head bumps his friend.

“You _were_ injured.” Ignis huffs and circles them. “You always do this.”

“Just leave me alone, really tired and sore.” 

Prompto looks around as the other two fuss over Gladio, spotting Cindy again and skittering over to her to get the woman’s attention. 

“Well hello again cutie, want some attention?” she says and goes to scoop Prompto up but the cat nimbly eludes her, pulling her attention to the others. “Something with your friends again? Oh, there’s another one.” Cindy says and goes over. “A big one too. How’d I miss a sweet fluffy thing like you?”

Cindy reaches out and strokes the cat’s fur before stopping when Gladio yowls when she touches his hind leg. 

“Poor darlin’, did you hurt your leg?”

“What’s all this commotion going on?" a gruff and raspy voice asks.

“We got some friendly strays paw-paw, one of them is injured.”

Cid ambles closer and leans down to survey the cats. “Look to well kept to be strays, probably someone dumped them on the side of the road. Not much we can do about the injured one, but cats are resilient little things. Just need to keep it rested and fed.” he says and carefully scoops the cat up, carrying it over to his chair that he sits down on with the cat in his lap. He pulls out some jerky from his jacket pocket and tears small pieces off, feeding them to the grateful cat. 

The other three watch and feel a strange sense of jealousy as Gladio gets petted by Cid, even more so when Cindy scritches the cat’s head and thunderous purrs escape him that elicits a chuckle from her. They eventually grow bored and head off to explore with Prompto being underfoot with Cindy, Ignis trying to find entry to the caravan that holds their belongings, and Noctis attempting to find a warm comfy place to take a nap in. The latter two fail and Prompto is shooed out of the garage by Cindy eventually after he couldn't stop batting around nuts and bolts she accidentally dropped a few times, them returning to Gladio who is still resting on Cid’s lap.

“You feeling any better?” Ignis asks and leans up to the other cat, giving him a few licks to the top of his head.

“Sort of. Will probably need a potion once we return back.” he says and carefully maneuvers himself off of Cid’s lap, the man fast asleep. “We should probably find a safe and warm place to sleep for the night, preferably not somewhere tight in case we change back.”

“Well, the caravan is out, no openings to squeeze through.”

“What about the Regalia?” Noctis suggests. 

“We’ll get cat hair all over the seats, so no.”

“We’ve gotten in the car covered in monster blood and grime, cat hair isn’t that big of an issue.” Noct retorts.

“Yeah but the Regalia has its hood up and the windows are closed.” Prompto points out. “So that’s out.” 

Gladio scans around briefly and begins to limp over to the side of the garage, the other three following after him and watch as he lays up against some boxes stacked against the wall under some tarps where a heating vent pushes out warm air close by. 

“This will have to do for now.” 

Noctis is the first to follow, nudging his smaller body in the crevice of Gladio’s legs and all but disappears in his fluff with only his head peeking out as he gives a few licks to the underside of Gladio’s chin before nesting down. Ignis joins in and forms a warm fuzzy barrier around the prince along with Gladio, that is until Prompto budges in and curls up between him and Noctis, purring and kneading the air before slowly slipping off to sleep. Ignis gives him an annoyed hiss but just lets it go after Gladio gives him a soft head bump and lick. The four fall asleep in a tight ball of purring fur, feeling warm and safe together. 

Morning arrives and Noctis is, surprisingly, the first to stir awake. He blinks a few times and tries to shift about, finding himself pinned and unable to move, plus his face is pressed into a sweaty smelling fabric with something warm and doughy underneath. Noct groans and turns his face away and tries to shuffle himself again only to get a groan from the figure behind him that is pressed against his back. That’s when Noctis begins to realize something, especially after feeling something pressing into his back. 

The spell wore off. 

But he was too tired and comfy to care, so he nuzzles back into the warm of Gladio’s body and slips back off to sleep, figuring they’ll deal with this all later.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like, come visit and chat with me on my [Tumblr](https://catlady1986.tumblr.com/)


End file.
